A July 3, 2013 decision from the California Court of Appeal holds that parties who prevail in petitioning for contractual arbitration will have to wait for the outcome of the arbitration to determine the “prevailing party” for purposes of awarding attorney fees and costs under Civil Code § 1717.
In Roberts v. Packard, Packard & Johnson, the Second Appellate District concluded that the trial court erred in awarding attorney fees and costs to defendants following a successful petition to compel arbitration under a contingency fee agreement that had a broad arbitration clause.